Where they were meant to belong
by strawhat luffy krian
Summary: Inoue is kidnapped by an unknown group of assailants and Ichigo has to go and rescue her, again. However, he soon realizes that the girl meant more to him than he realized, and he could not bear to lose her all over again. He would always go and rescue her, even if it meant risking his own life. Will he manage to save her in time or will this time prove different?
1. Chapter 1

**Where they were meant to belong**

**Full Summary**: Inoue is kidnapped by an unknown group of assailants and Ichigo has to go and rescue her, again. However, he soon realizes that the girl meant more to him than he realized, and he could not bear to lose her all over again. He would always go and rescue her, even if it meant risking his own life. Will he manage to save her in time or will this time prove different than the other times?

**Main Pairings**: Ichihime, nuff said.

**Timeline: **The events in this story occur after the Fake Karakura Town Arc, where Inoue has been rescued safely and Ichigo's group resumed its daily life. Ichigo still has his shinigami powers in this fanfic though.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, they are the sole property of Tite Kubo (who I have to admit has done a brilliant job in designing his characters, his artwork is amazing!)

**A/N**: Welcome to my third fanfic. This time I decided to write a Bleach one, since one of my best pairings ever is in that anime i.e. IchiHime. I hope you all enjoy it and I promise it will be worth your time. Read and review ;)

_Reminder_

Kurosaki Ichigo lay in his bed staring into the roof. Tilting his head a little, he looked at the clock that lay on his bedside. It read 1 pm. _Those guys must be having lunch right now_, he thought to himself. It was the fourth day of the week and he was aware that school would be closing for the summer holidays soon. It was with this knowledge that he had decided to skip the last three days of school, stating to his group of friends that missing one or two final days of school wouldn't really make much of a difference. He really didn't leave them much room to protest, since he immediately left for home when he broke the news to them. This had occurred a day ago.

Shifting to his side purely out of coincidence, his phone which also lay there untouched immediately sprung up with a ring. A bit startled, Ichigo reached out for the device, although he had a faint idea as to who had decided to interrupt his peaceful afternoon, away from everyone. Flipping the phone, Asano Keigo's voice immediately filled the room, causing some birds that were perched on a nearby tree to scurry away in fright, "ICHIGO WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO THIS TO ME I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST DROPPED BY AT SCHOOL SO THAT WE COULD HANG OUT!" The words flowed continuously from Keigo, which made Ichigo wonder how come he had not even run out of breath yet. When he was sure that it was his turn to speak (after a slight pause where the recipient had gone silent), Ichigo replied, "Dude for the last time, I'm not appearing in that place till next semester. I already told you this. Besides I'm sure you guys aren't really doing anything of much importance, are you?" At this point Mizuiro Kojima's voice was the one which replied (he had taken the phone from Keigo, apparently unable to tolerate more of his shouting).

"Forget him Ichigo. You know Asano-san can't go a day without being head-locked by you. "(Keigo shrieked at these words, he still couldn't believe that Mizuiro called him Asano-san, despite the fact that they were friends for almost two years now) Ichigo chuckled at this reply, before saying, "I know man, either way what's up? I don't think you called me to discuss Keigo's weird habits." Mizuiro replied again,"Oh yeah, I wanted to remind you about the Bad Shield ticket I got you a while ago. The concert is on Saturday so I wanted to confirm if you were going so I would pass by your place and drop off the ticket this evening." Ichigo suddenly realized what Mizuiro was talking about.

A month had passed since the defeat of Aizen Sousuke at Ichigo's hands. Inoue Orihime had been successfully rescued and Ichigo had resumed his daily life, alongside Ishida Uryuu and Sado Yasutora. Luckily, none of them had perished during their quest in Hueco Mundo to save Inoue, so Ichigo was more than pleased and he felt like he deserved a break after all that had happened. His other friends in school; Arisawa Tatsuki, Keigo Asano and Mizuiro Kojima had also emerged unscathed, even after the whole incident with Aizen in Soul Society. Ichigo remembered that he had indeed asked Mizuiro to get him the Bad Shield ticket a few weeks before he left for Hueco Mundo, promising that he would indeed return in time for the concert, and now it looked like the time to pay his dues had arrived.

"Yeah, I'll definitely come. (Keigo let out a squeak of delight next to Mizuiro). What time is the concert again?" he inquired. "It's at 8 p.m," Mizuiro replied almost immediately, with a much lighter tone in his voice. He was also obviously happy that Ichigo had decided to accompany both him and Keigo. He then continued, "Oh, and by the way it would be cool if you brought a girl with you. It would help kill the stale atmosphere surrounding three guys. I'd suggest bringing along Inoue-san."

Keigo at this point was jumping up and down in complete bliss, while chanting, "Inoue-san is coming with us! Inoue-san is coming with us!" while skipping around the area where Mizuiro sat. "Ichigo?" Mizuiro asked through the phone. He was not wrong to ask, however, since Ichigo had fallen dead-silent on the receiving end of the call. He stared at his cellphone to make sure that Ichigo had not hung up, he was still there. Meanwhile, on the other side of the phone, Ichigo was stunned by what Mizuiro had just suggested to him. Sure enough, he and Inoue had been friends for as long as he could remember, but he had never before asked a girl to accompany him to an event, much less a rock concert. He simply found it too troublesome. Therefore, he was dead-sure that asking Inoue would be a hassle, but that wasn't the case as in his reply.

"I'll think about it," Ichigo finally managed to speak up. "Good. I'll see you in the evening then," Mizuiro concluded, before finally hanging up. Ichigo placed his phone next to his bedside, before placing his hand over his eyes and becoming deeply endorsed in his thoughts. Honestly, asking Inoue would be harder than he originally thought it would be, all because of revelations he had received in the past. _"Inoue Orihime was in your room last night to heal your injuries," he remembered concluding to the Captain Commander to prove that Inoue was still alive. "Why did you protect him? Let me tell you the answer. It's because you-," Ulquiorra Schiffer informed Inoue during their battle in Las Noches._ These two revelations had helped him come to a really unsettling conclusion, and deciding not to think about it much further, he slept the rest of the afternoon off, awaiting Mizuiro's arrival.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Inoue Orihime casually skipped across the street to the store, herself having skipped school too for that day. When asked the reason by her best friend, Arisawa Tatsuki, she lied that she had stomach flu. Tatsuki seemed to think otherwise, considering the piercing glare she gave her. Inoue immediately ran to her house, deciding that it would not be better to carry more of the lie to her friend. This also happened a day ago. However, the real reason she decided to skip school that day is because a certain orange-haired guy was not around that day too. Immediately blushing at the thought, Inoue stopped in her steps and decided to proceed after recollecting herself. Little did she know that, the shadow of a man watched her from behind an electric pole. Inoue Orihime's sense of danger was seriously terrible for her own good.

_End_

**A/N:** Well, there's chapter one guys. I made it considerably longer than the first chapters of my previous two fanfics, so I hope that you will enjoy this fanfic. Again, read and review. IchiHime for life.


	2. Disappearance

**A/N: **Well, that didn't take too long, did it? Here's chapter 2 of my Bleach fanfic. I don't really like keeping the people who want to read this story on hiatus for long, so I decided to update this as soon as possible. Thank you for all the reviews already. I can proudly state that this is my most successful fanfic…so far. Without further ado, here's chapter 2 of "Where they were meant to belong", titled "Disappearance".

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. If I did, Ichigo would have realized Orihime's feelings for him by now and probably reciprocated them.

_Disappearance_

Inoue continued to skip merrily along the street, her distance to the store closing with each step. She had decided to buy red bean paste, which was her best delicacy after all. Having been constantly pestered by Tatsuki about her eating habits which she termed as "strange", she made no attempt to drop the dish however. Tatsuki's advice seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, it seemed, but Inoue was a bit glad that she was not coming over for dinner that night. A bit sad that she would not see her friend for another evening, she made up her mind to pay her a visit the following day.

However, the following day would not come for the young girl.

Immediately locating the item she desired on one of the nearby shelves, she made her way to the counter. After a warm greeting by the attendant who had grown fond of Inoue's frequent visits, she paid for the red bean paste and exited the store. Turning the corner where her house lay at the end of the street, she walked a bit faster now, since the sun was nearly getting swallowed up in the horizon.

However, after a few steps she came face to face with a strange man. Said man was wearing what looked like tight jeans, which were white in color, and on the upper half of his body he clad a sky-blue shirt. He reminded her a little of her friend, Sado Yasutora. The two looked at each other for a while before the man took out a photo, stared at it before resuming his stare to Inoue. "Just to confirm, you are Inoue Orihime, yes?" Taken aback by the sudden query, Inoue pondered a little. She was too polite for her own good, which was evident when she replied a few minutes later, "Yes, I am? Uuuum, who are you, sir?" The man just smiled a little before saying, "My name is no concern of yours. I need you to come with me." Visibly alarmed, Inoue clutched her belongings tighter to her chest and was about to turn the other way when she heard the crashing of something behind her. She had no time to look what it was, however, because her eyes and mouth were immediately covered and she could feel herself being falling through something. Within seconds, both she and the strange man had disappeared, leaving an empty road which had been destroyed in the middle.

Mizuiro knocked on Ichigo's door for the second time that evening, having received no reply the first time. Ichigo, who was sound asleep in his bed, immediately woke up with a start. He had heard a knock on the front door, and for a second thought that there were burglars who had decided to attack the house. "Burglars don't knock on doors though, they break them down," he reasoned logically. Having remembered one person who had promised to meet him that evening, he muttered, " Mizuiro", and went to open the door for his friend.

"You know you could be more considerate of others, Ichigo. I've been standing out here for the past twenty minutes and already the neighbours thought I was someone suspicious," Mizuiro berated him once he came face to face with him on the other side of the door. Ichigo rubbed his still sleepy eyes a little, before saying, "Sorry man. I guess I slept too much." Shrugging a little, Mizuiro opened his bag and his hand emerged with two tickets. "Anyway," he pressed on more urgently, having no desire to discuss Ichigo's sleeping schedule, and "here are the tickets as promised. This one," he placed one of them into Ichigo's now outstretched hands," is yours. And this one, "he placed the second one over the first one that was lying in Ichigo's hand," is for Inoue-san." He finished his sentence with a smirk.

Ichigo was a bit surprised, and wasted no time in retaliating, "Wait a minute. I haven't even said I'll bring anyone over. Much less Inoue.",Mizuiro looked like he was enjoying the now troubled look on Ichigo's face. "Well, I can't think of any other person you would carry along for such an event. Arisawa herself isn't interested in such stuff, and all the other girls in our class are pretty much out of the question, like Honsho." Ichigo's thoughts immediately switched to the red-haired bespectacled lesbian in his class, and tried to imagine what it would be like going with her to a concert, but immediately shook his head to affirm Mizuiro's statement. "That leaves only Inoue-san. Besides I bet she'll be happy to be invited by you to the concert." Noting Mizuiro's last statement, Ichigo was tempted to ask "why", but he knew in this situation it would be better to be more adamant in his half-made decision. "Then why don't you invite one of your girlfriends along with this extra ticket. I'm also sure they'll be more than willing to accompany you." This time, it was Mizuiro's turn to shake his head. "Kurosaki, you really lack tact. I've already invited someone to go with me, and bringing more than one girl will cause problems so it's a no-no." Ichigo opened his mouth to protest, but noticing that he didn't have anything else to counter with, slumped his shoulders in defeat. He replied, "Okay. I'll invite her." Mizuiro smiled satisfactorily before leaving Ichigo's front door and descending down the front steps that led up to it.

Once he was at the bottom floor, however, he stopped momentarily and looked up at Ichigo, who was just opening the door to return to his house. He called out to him immediately, "If I were you I would take that ticket to her immediately rather than leave it lying around in my room. You know how Yuzu-chan and your dad can be if they find two tickets lying in your room when they know that they only have one son." Ichigo froze a little in his movements, and he imagined the flurry of questions he would get from Yuzu and his dad, his dad wailing in front of his mom's portrait about how his son had "grown up" so fast, Yuzu beaming at him and crying about her "Onii-chan" about to leave the house so soon, and he knew that hell would break loose in the house. Looking at Mizuiro, he gave him a thumbs-up before saying, "Thanks, Mizuiro. I'll take it to her immediately." Mizuiro smiled reassuringly at him, and walked away, while Ichigo entered the house and made his way to his room.

Mizuiro had reached the street where his house lay. Oddly enough, he and Inoue were neighbors at home, though they rarely spoke to each other. They rarely met outside school since Inoue stayed out shopping most of the evenings and he was a complete shut-in when he reached his house. To his surprise however, he noticed a lone man standing in the middle of the road. He was crouched on the ground as if he was studying something intently, and Mizuiro moved a bit closer to identify who the stranger was. He had blue hair and glasses, and his face was contorted in a frown. Mizuiro immediately recognized the man as his classmate and acquaintance, Ishida Uryuu.

"Evening, Ishida-san. What are you doing here? I thought your house was on the opposite street," Mizuiro called out to him. He opted to use honorifics since he knew that even though Ichigo and Ishida seemed like great friends, personally he and Ishida weren't especially close or anything. Ishida, who seemed too consumed in thought, hardly noticed Mizuiro approaching him. When the footsteps had finally settled near him, he stared up at Mizuiro's face, which held a puzzled expression. "What happened here?" he asked no one in particular, and Ishida knew he was referring to the crater that lay in the middle of the road.

"I honestly don't know," Ishida began to answer, "I was heading home when I saw this crater and I decided to come check it out." There was a small lie in Ishida's words. The second part about coming to check out the crater was indeed true, but what brought him here was the unusual reiatsu he had sensed as he was walking home. It did not seem to be a Hollow's reiatsu, so he assumed it was a human with an extraordinarily large amount of reiatsu. He immediately decided to run to the area to check it out, opting not to use Hirenkyaku so as not to waste reiatsu in case a skirmish would break out, but he was too late. The reiatsu signature had disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared.

"Ishida-san, what's that?" Mizuiro asked him, pointing a little distance away from them. Ishida immediately got up and went to the said direction, and saw that there was a bag which contained a can of red bean paste which was lying at the mouth of the bag. "I don't know. It seems to be someone's shopping. But red bean paste surely? Who would-"At this point Ishida froze in the middle of his sentence. Mizuiro, who had noticed this, asked him, "What's wrong?" Unbeknownst to him, Ishida remembered that there was only one person he knew on that street who would buy read bean paste without any accompanying dishes. His mouth immediately moved to form the words of the said person. "Inoue." Immediately focusing his reiatsu to look for her reiatsu within the area, he searched and searched but to no avail. However, traces of her reiatsu still lay on the bag that was on the ground, so he was led to make one tragic conclusion.

Inoue Orihime had disappeared.

_End_

**A/N: **That escalated pretty well, or at least as I had hoped in my head it would. And it fits so well with the title of this chapter. Inoue was kidnapped, but by who? Find out next time!;) Continue to read and review, and thank you for all the follows and favorites already. IchiHime is tops!


	3. Friendship

**A/N: **Welcome to the third chapter of "Where they were meant to belong." In this chapter the story of Inoue's disappearance reaches Ichigo and his friends. How will each of them take it? Especially Ichigo and Inoue's best friend, Tatsuki Arisawa. Thank you so much for all your reviews, follows and favorites. Enjoy this latest chapter ;)

**Disclaimer: ** I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. They are the sole property of Tite Kubo.

_Friendship_

The impact of Inoue's sudden disappearance was almost instant on Ishida Uryuu. Truth is told, even if he rarely expressed any emotions on his stoic face, he could not hide the worry that had started growing in him. He had come to develop a soft spot for Inoue after all the time they had spent together since knowing each other. He rarely made any friends since he simply found the act itself too troublesome, but she was one of the few people he considered as a friend to him. She, was personality was so bright that she always managed to put a smile on everyone's face. She, who harbored deep feelings for a certain orange-haired substitute shinigami which was so painfully obvious to everyone in their group except him. She was gone, without any trace or last words. Ishida remembered the time when she had been kidnapped by the Arrancar, and the worry continued to gnaw at his heart.

He thought of a scenario where she had been murdered already by the assailant, and the blood in his body momentarily turned into ice. Then logic spoke up in his brain. If the enemy really intended to kill her, there shouldn't have been any need to whisk her away. As embarrassing as it was to admit, Inoue really lacked any basic combat training except the martial arts she learnt from her best friend, Tatsuki, when they were little. Ishida knew that the little martial arts that Inoue had knowledge of weren't really much use in a life threatening situation, unless the opponent was incredibly stupid, or was too distracted by the size of her chest. Ishida blushed a little at the second possibility, but shook the thoughts out of his head. Getting up from the ground, he safely concluded that Inoue had been kidnapped by an unknown enemy, for whatever reason they had.

He heard the sound of a phone's buttons being pressed behind him. He looked behind to see Mizuiro pressing some buttons on his phone, and wondered who it was he was calling in such a situation. However, he remembered that there was a certain person who would probably be distressed when he heard about what had happened to Inoue. He was actually grateful that he was not the one calling Ichigo, so he waited patiently to see how he would respond. (Part of the reason he had not decided to call Ichigo immediately was his pride as a Quincy, which refused him to call any shinigami in case of an emergency)

_Ichigo's house_

Ichigo had just come from the shower and was now deciding which clothes to wear. He decided that if he was to go to Inoue's place, he was to go when he was clean since he did not want to sully the young girl's house. He had been there only once before, and it wasn't exactly on a normal visit. Inoue had been attacked by the hollow of her brother's soul, so Ichigo had to end up going there to save her. Now that he remembered it, he noted that Inoue's house didn't really have much to speak of. It was a simple design with just the right amount of furniture designated for a comfortable life.

Deciding on a loose shirt that had the number 15 written on its back (Ichigo could not understand why his father insisted on buying him shirts that almost all had this design), and a pair of loose baggy jeans, Ichigo looked at himself in the mirror to ensure that he looked at least presentable. He then went to the ticket that lay on his bedside next to his phone, and after stuffing it in his back pocket, he started wondering whether he was supposed to carry anything as a gift token to Inoue. The number of times she had come to his house she always carried tokens for him, Yuzu, Karin, and even their old man, which Ichigo really appreciated. He went downstairs to the kitchen to see if there was anything he could offer her, and was immediately pleased to see a basket of fruits that was lying on the kitchen table. Yuzu had brought those fruits a few days ago to use them in making a pudding for herself and her sister, so Ichigo made a mental note to buy some fruits on his way back from Inoue's place.

He was on his way back to his room to get his phone when he heard it ringing loudly. A bit startled since he wondered who would be calling him at that time, since all his friends had talked to him that day (well, almost all), he picked up the phone and saw that it was Mizuiro who was calling. Ichigo wondered why he would call him again despite being there only an hour ago. He most certainly hadn't left anything in the house, since he didn't even enter the building. Ichigo then assumed that Mizuiro had called him to remind him not to forget to take Inoue's ticket to her place. A bit annoyed, Ichigo raised the phone to his ear and prepared to give his friend an earful.

"You know, I'm not really as forgetful as you take me to be. I was just on my way out of the house and too Inoue's place so you really shouldn't have bothered calling to remind me again, Mizuiro," Ichigo started, making sure to place special emphasis on every word so that Mizuiro would get the message. He was however, not prepared for what came next. The news hit him like a bombshell. "It's not that Ichigo. I'm here with Ishida-san on the street where Inoue-san's house is, and she seems to have disappeared. There's no trace of her anywhere." Ichigo's hands suddenly went numb and he could have dropped the phone to the ground in shock, but he wanted to make sure that this wasn't a really bad joke by his longtime friends. "What did you say?" He slowly mouthed the question to Mizuiro. "I said, Inoue-san has disappeared on the street in front of her house, and there's no trace of her anywhere. I'm with Ishida-san here at the moment."

Ichigo's mind was in a trance at the sudden revelation. _Inoue had disappeared?_ No, there's no way that could be true. They had just gotten her back from the clutches of the Arrancar and Aizen a few weeks ago, so she couldn't have gone away so soon. Ichigo then thought that Inoue must have been hiding somewhere, but remembered that Mizuiro had said that Ishida was there, and he was well aware of Ishida's excellent reiatsu-tracking skills. Ishida was a better controller of reaitsu than Inoue, so he could have easily sniffed her out anywhere in the city. The truth came down crashing on Ichigo like a hurricane, and he realized that Mizuiro was probably speaking the truth.

He talked to his friend again. "Got it. I'll be there in a few minutes. Wait for me a little." He prepared to put his phone in his pocket and make a quick dash for the street, when Mizuiro's voice came in from the other side. "Ichigo, it would be better for you to come in your shinigami form. This may not have been a normal attack, and we don't know what we are dealing with here. Come in a way that you'll be able to defend yourself in case anything happens." Ichigo then placed the phone in his pocket without any further reply, and opened his wardrobe again to get his badge. A few months ago, he would have asked Mizuiro what he meant by "shinigami form", but seeing that him, Tatsuki, Chizuru and Keigo had seen his shinigami form when he fought Aizen in his final form, he did not see the need to conceal the truth from his friends. They had been aware of his powers for a while now, and to Ichigo's relief, they didn't look at him any differently, they learnt to accept that side of him too. Smiling to himself as he pressed the badge to his chest, he let the familiar feeling of being pushed out of his body envelop him and he looked at himself now clad in black robes, and a huge sword strapped to his back.

Remembering Mizuiro's words earlier that they were dealing with an unknown enemy, he decided to place his body in his wardrobe. He could always call out Kon, but knowing the mod soul's extreme personality and his interest in human girls, realized that it wouldn't be a good idea to leave his body in the hands of such an outgoing person. He closed his wardrobe behind him and immediately left the house to go to where Ishida and Mizuiro were.

_Arisawa Tatsuki _

Tatsuki had currently been walking for a while deciding to head to her best friend's place. Having not seen Inoue for a while, she realized that she sorely missed her so she decided to go to her place to hang out. With the summer holidays around the corner, Tatsuki knew that she and her parents would probably go to travel and she wouldn't see Inoue until she got back, which would be in around three months. Saddened by the thought, she decided it would be better to spend more time around her in the short time she had left, rather than regret it later.

She made a turn at the corner where she knew Inoue's house was, and was a bit surprised to find Mizuiro and Ishida standing there in the middle of the road. Puzzled, she halted momentarily then began walking towards them to see what they were doing there. She originally thought that the two had come to see Inoue, but remembered that Ishida wasn't really the type to visit other people at their houses, and that Mizuiro already had a horde of girls at his beck and call, so he wouldn't really be bothered by a weird girl such as Inoue. Tatsuki hadn't failed to realize by now that Inoue Orihime wasn't your everyday girl, so she saw no fault in calling her weird. As she steadily approached the two guys, she noticed the crack in the ground and immediately a thought sprung into her mind.

"What happened here? Was it a hollow attack?" she asked the two guys in front of her. The two of them looked at her at the same time, surprised at her sudden appearance, rather than the fact that she had said "Hollow." Ishida realized that she had probably remembered what Ichigo had told her and her group of friends, and was glad that he didn't have to waste time covering up things with her.

"Good evening, Arisawa-san." Mizuiro started. "It wasn't a hollow that attacked this area. Something rather tragic has happened." He held up the bag that contained Inoue's shopping, and watched Tatsuki's face whiten before he continued, "Inoue-san has been kidnapped, by an assailant we do not know, so me and Ishida-san here are waiting for Ichigo to come here so that he can see this for himself.

Tatsuki lost her balance and felt herself crumble to the ground. The two men in front of her immediately stretched out their hands to save her, but Ishida was faster, using his Hirenkyaku to reach her in a second and hold her before she hit the concrete. "Careful," he said to her. "You could get seriously injured like that." Tatsuki looked up into the eyes of Ishida and noticed that he bore a grim expression. She realized that he also knew about the news, and it sunk into her like a dagger. Her best friend had disappeared again, and here she was powerless again to do nothing but break down. Cursing her own weakness, she started hitting Ishida's chest while tears streamed down her face. "Why? Why? Why did this happen?"

"Tatsuki? What are you doing here?" The three turned simultaneously to see the person who had talked. Ichigo had arrived at the scene. He saw Tatsuki's tear-stained face and knew that Ishida and Mizuiro had broken the news to her. Tatsuki released herself from hitting Ishida, then turned to Ichigo and said, "I was coming here to see Orihime. Then these two told me that she had been kidnapped. Is this true?" Ichigo looked at her sadly, and then nodded his head. Tatsuki then asked Ichigo, "You don't know who did this then? Or are you hiding things from me again?" Ichigo remembered that she was referring to the time when he had refused to tell her that Inoue had been captured by the Arrancar, telling her blatantly "It's none of your business." He replied, "I already told you everything about me and Hollows and Shinigami. I don't have anything else to hide from you, Tatsuki, and I'm also worried about Inoue here."

Tatsuki looked at Ichigo briefly as if ascertaining the truth behind his words, then realizing that he didn't have any reasons to lie to her anymore, felt satisfied. Ichigo walked to the scene where the crack on the road, and touched the ground then closed his eyes. His sensory skills weren't exactly on par with Ishida's, but he still had the ability, so he tried picking up any traces of reiatsu. True enough, there were faint traces of reaitsu left by whoever had done the kidnapping, and Ichigo realized that the reiatsu seemed almost familiar. As if he had felt this reiatsu before and not too long ago. He turned to Ishida and asked him, "Ishida, have you felt this reiatsu before somewhere?" Ishida's eyes widened in surprise, and then he closed his eyes momentarily to feel the reiatsu that Ichigo was talking about. He too, felt that they had felt the same reiatsu before.

Opening his eyes, he looked at Ichigo and said, "You're right. It is familiar. This is the reiatsu we felt as we were going through the Garganta from here to Hueco Mundo. It's not reaitsu from Hueco Mundo or the World of the Living. If I'd pick a choice, I'd say it almost feels like the reiatsu that we felt when we were in the Garganta." Ishida looked at Ichigo who looked a bit surprised, then said, "Kurosaki, you don't think?" Ichigo got up from his position on the ground, and then said to Ishida, "I think it would be better to go and ask Urahara-san about this. I think he may have an answer or explanation about this oddly familiar reiatsu."

Ishida and Ichigo then started walking in the direction of Urahara's candy store, when Tatsuki spoke up," Where are you guys going without telling us?" The two of them looked at Tatsuki, and then Ichigo replied, "Tatsuki, we might be dealing with something extremely dangerous here. It would be best if you guys just stayed out of it. Sorry about this." Ichigo expected Tatsuki to go away at this, but she still stood there, with the same fierce look in her eyes. "I don't think so Ichigo. My best friend is in danger, and this is the third time this has happened. I'm not sitting this one out. I'm coming with you guys to this Urahara-san's place." Ishida and Ichigo were both shocked, with Ichigo looking at Tatsuki as if she was a new species of hollow that had landed on earth.

"Wait! What are you talking about Tatsuki?! Don't you realize how dangerous this could be?! Even if you can see hollows and spirit forms clearly now it doesn't mean you can just barge into a fight with an unknown being! We don't even know what we are dealing with here in the first place!" Ichigo tried reasoning with the tomboy. Sure he was happy that she was trying to rescue her best friend, but this was not the time or place to show off her bravado. Tatsuki remained rooted to the ground there, refusing to go away, while Mizuiro looked at the scenario unfolding in front of him with a bemused expression on his face. He certainly had not expected this sudden turn of events.

Tatsuki shook her head and then said, "I'm coming with you whether you like it or not, Kurosaki Ichigo. (Ichigo cringed a little at being called by his two names by his childhood friend). Inoue is my best friend, and I'm going to rescue her, even if I have to stalk you two." Ichigo was at a loss for words. He realized that nothing he would say to Tatsuki would fall on her, so he desperately looked at Ishida for support. Ishida looked at him in a way that showed there was no hope of winning the argument here. "I think it's best if she comes with us Kurosaki. We'll just waste more and more valuable time, and who knows what's happening to Inoue-san as we speak.

Ichigo slumped his shoulders in defeat, seeing the logic in Ishida's words. They couldn't afford to waste any more time than they already had standing there, so he looked at Tatsuki, who sported a positive look in her eyes. "Okay then, you can tag along. ( Tatsuki's heart leaped in joy at these words). Mizuiro, you wanna come too?" he asked Mizuiro. To his delight, Mizuiro shook his head, saying, "Sorry, Ichigo. I'm not really cut out for such stuff. I'll go to Asano's place to tell him about this instead. My phone's dead and I think he won't be happy if he sees he's been left out again." Ichigo nodded and he, Ishida and Tatsuki began their journey to Urahara's place, while Mizuiro went in the opposite direction, towards Keigo's house.

_End_

**A/N: **Woot woot! Chapter 3 is finally done, and I'm honestly feeling satisfied with this chapter. It went exactly as I had planned, which means that next chapter will probably reveal more about our antagonists, and what Ichigo and co. have to do to save Inoue. As usual, read and don't forget to review. Thanks and peace out!


	4. Journey

**A/N: **Before I begin this chapter I would like to apologize for the late update. I was supposed to have updated this fanfic last week but then stuff came up so I was forced to adjust my schedule a little. Not to worry though, I promise this chapter will definitely be worth your time and that you definitely won't regret it. So, here goes!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach or any of its characters=.They are the sole property of Tite Kubo.

_Journey_

The trio of Ichigo, Ishida and Tatsuki walked on the path leading to Urahara's place in an eerie silence. Tatsuki grew more and more aware of the silence and started feeling a bit uneasy in it. She and Ichigo had been childhood friends, so it wasn't exactly a natural thing for the two of them to hardly say anything to each other. She and Ishida was another thing altogether though. The two of them hardly ever said anything to each other, but Tatsuki was well aware of Inoue's friendship around the blue-haired guy. He was normally as stiff as a rod when it came to things like talking to other people, but Inoue's cheerfulness even set Ishida off his usual rhythm, because he often caught himself worrying about the girl's safety whenever she was almost jumping into a dangerous situation. Of course, Inoue had told her all about the time that she was in Hueco Mundo, and how Ishida had helped her to reach Ichigo at the roof of the dome when he was engaged in his battle with the 4th Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer. How he had charged in to protect her when she was rushing to save Ichigo's falling body from the pinnacle of one of the towers, where Ulquiorra had shot a Cero Oscuras through her love's chest, effectively finishing him off.

At first glance, Tatsuki thought that Ishida had some sort of feelings for Inoue, which seemed to border more on romantic rather than friendly. She had even asked Inoue herself once what Ishida felt for her, to which Inoue just let out a hearty laugh. She then proceeded to explain that she and Ishida were just platonic friends, with nothing more than friendship being their relationship. However, Inoue soon started turning red on her cheeks, and Tatsuki thought that maybe she had lied just then, but then she said, "Tatsuki-chan, you know that I've only had eyes for Kurosaki-kun for a long time now, so I didn't expect you to come out and ask me something so random like that. Besides, Ishida-kun doesn't really have much interest in girls, I just tend to think that he has more of a soft spot for me since we've known each other since he and Kurosaki-kun became friends. That's all." Tatsuki was slightly surprised by this revelation from her friend, because she didn't like talking about her feelings regarding Ichigo to anyone. It wasn't because she thought that it was none of their business, as most people would put it, but more of the fact that she was too shy regarding matters of love. Tatsuki was a bit amused at this, but she knew how much of a good-natured person Inoue was, so she couldn't put something like this past her. However, she was a bit happy for her best friend, since she knew that Ichigo was a good guy, even though he got into a lot of fights with delinquents from other schools, and she knew that it wasn't exactly his fault most of the times.

Looking at the apple of Inoue's eye, she spoke up, "Ichigo, why don't we just use that high speed movement thingy that you guys use when moving? I think that we will reach our destination faster, since that Aizen guy from a while ago used it and found us within mere seconds." Ichigo looked at her for a moment, and Ishida had an amused look on his face. He didn't expect Tatsuki to remember something as trivial as that, since he knew that it was one of the things that Ichigo didn't tell her when he was explaining about shinigami, pluses and hollows. Still, he had to hand it to her for remembering such a trivial thing. He knew that she and Inoue studied together, so she may have picked up some of her remembering skills.

"Well, it's not that I can't, but it won't be as fast when I'm carrying someone. Plus there's the risk that you may get really dizzy or fall of due to the speed at which I'm moving at, so it's not really a safe method for transporting normal humans," Ichigo calmly explained to her. In his mind, he remembered the time that he had gone to rescue Inoue in Hueco Mundo, and a certain green-haired Arrancar had tagged along with him. He had used shunpo when carrying her under his arm, but she had gotten dizzy after a few flash steps, so he decided to carry her on his head (at her request), while running. She seemed to enjoy this, so he was sure that it was probably safer going on this way. He looked at Ishida, looking if there was an alternative solution, but Ishida just shook his head sideways, confirming what had just popped up in his mind. He wondered whether there was a chance that Ishida would be able to carry Tatsuki using his Hirenkyaku, but the man's gesture proved otherwise. He then surmised that since Shunpo and Hirenkyaku weren't really that different except in the user, the same risk probably lay with the speed technique. Running was also out of the question, since, unlike him and Ishida; Tatsuki probably didn't have a lot of stamina to cover the entire distance. True she did engage in martial arts and was declared the Strongest Woman in Japan, but the current predicament wasn't a matter as simple as pinning a few people to the ground. They needed each ounce of their strength, which certainly wasn't going to be conserved through running and using all of their stamina.

It was then that Ichigo wondered, and so he asked Tatsuki, "By the way Tatsuki, how are you going to fight anyway? You're pretty strong when it comes to human standards, but according to supernatural standards you may not really stand a chance of survival. And it would really suck if you snuffed it if we were there, since Inoue would be devastated beyond belief." Ichigo expressed his concerns, and suddenly he felt his heart fill his worry and fear. He realized that he was putting Inoue's best friend in the face of danger, and there was no telling if she would escape unscathed. In a worst case scenario, she would probably get killed by their enemies, who were unknown, and her death would weigh on his shoulders forever. He would probably lose the chance to talk to Inoue forever, blaming himself for Tatsuki's death, and knew that he would probably lose her forever by the end of this ordeal. Resolve grasping him once again, he was about to turn to Tatsuki and tell her that he was going to take her home by force, since he didn't want to lose Orihime on account of her selfish request.

To his surprise, however, she had held up a finger to him, shaking it when he turned his head to face her. Ichigo realized that she had probably realized what she was thinking, but that did little to change his mind. About to voice his concerns again to her, he stopped momentarily when he saw the smirk on her face. He recognized that smirk from anywhere. Whenever Arisawa was about to face a boy bigger than her, or a group of bullies where she was outmatched, she always smirked like that. Ichigo had seen that smirk a lot of times in the past when she had come to save him from when he was being bullied by the delinquents in his neighborhood. She had the confidence to face the danger that lay before her, and this always proved in the victories she had under her belt. Therefore, he waited to hear what she had to prepare herself this time. Nothing could probably prepare him for what she said next though.

"Heeh, so you're more worried about Hime's wellbeing than mine then? You probably realized how devastated she would be if I kicked the bucket where we were headed right?" Tatsuki teased him. Ichigo got a bit flustered at this, and a faint tinge of red stained his cheek for a few minutes. It did not go unnoticed by Tatsuki and also Ishida, and immediately the same thought went through the minds of the two. However, it was quickly vanquished as Ichigo began stuttering, "No, that-s not what I mean-t. I was worried about you too, you know that, right?" Slightly taking offense that Tatsuki thought that Ichigo was not the least bit worried about her, he was about to open his mouth again to call her off in a louder, angrier voice, when her voice cut him off again, "Don't get so worked up Ichigo, I was just teasing you a little. I know that you're worried about me too, and I'm touched by your concern." Ichigo's anger dissipated, and he suddenly felt a surge of affection for his childhood friend. "Don't worry about me though. Do you really think I would go to such a place unprepared? Don't think so lightly of me Ichigo. What do you think me; Keigo, Honsho, Chizuru, Kon and Kanonji-san have been doing when you guys had gone to rescue Inoue in Hueco Mundo? We had formed a team lead by Kisuke-san to fight off the hollows that were invading this place. We were fighting the hollows using specially made suits that had abilities which were extremely helpful in combat. I was Karakura-Riser Beast." Tatsuki looks at Ichigo to see if he was following with all she had said, and saw that Ichigo had an amused expression on his face.

Getting a little angry since she thought that he was going to laugh at her story, which he surely thought was a tall tale, she clenched her fist and was about to sock him, when he said, "Wow, Tatsuki, that's….I have no words. I didn't think you guys would dedicate yourself to protecting this town that much. I'm honestly amazed. Okay, now I have a general idea of how you're planning to fight, but one problem though." Tatsuki was surprised by the words coming out of Ichigo's mouth. A few months ago, he would have probably called her out for doing something so dangerous, but this time, he expressed words of pride in her. Words that she thought she would never hear from him, knowing how much he treasured the wellbeing of his friends. This meant that he had come to acknowledge her strength, and this realization made her beam at him in joy. "Where's the suit at the moment?" It was Ishida who spoke up, speaking for the first time since the three had started their journey.

She had expected this question to pop up when she had started explaining about the Raizers to the duo, so she confidently replied, "It's at Kisuke's place. He said that it was probably better if the suits stayed there, since there were still some modifications he could do to them, and there was the chance that we could be tempted to use them in other ways other than fighting hollows. So I'll get the suit when we arrive there." She finished with a tone of pride in her voice. Ichigo could not help but chuckle a little. She had grown so strong, and Ichigo had a nagging feeling that part of it had to do with the desire to protect her best friend. She was the same as him, and Ichigo's desire to bring Inoue back strengthened even farther. However, what truly amused him was hearing that Keigo had been part of this small group of heroes to protect Karakura town. Wanting to hear more, he asked Tatsuki, "What hero was Keigo, Tatsuki?" Tatsuki could not suppress a small laugh, so she replied, "He was Karakura Raizer Delicate." Ichigo and Ishida both sweat dropped, and Ichigo asked, "Delicate? Why delicate?" "Well, to call a spade a spade, he was a coward. He wasn't even able to fight, so his skill was running away. He could run so fast that even the hollows wouldn't have a chance of catching up with him." At this point, Ichigo broke out in laughter. He couldn't hold it in anymore, and Ishida himself had a smile on his face, to show his complete bewilderment at what they had just been told, and Tatsuki found herself joining in the laughter. It was a good chance to lighten up the mood before them, and certainly it helped, since they found themselves feeling more rejuvenated than they were a few minutes before.

"So do you think that Keigo will be interested in coming on this rescue mission?" Ichigo asked Tatsuki. "Naah, I don't think so. I reckon he'll probably just stay here and say that he'll hold down the fort or something cheesy like that, you know how the guy is. Ichigo nodded at her and knew it, but still, he was glad that the guy was one of his best friends.

Somewhere, several blocks away from where the trio was, a brown haired guy sneezed in the vicinity of his apartment. He rubbed his nose a little, and then wondered where the sneeze had popped out from. Remembering how he had heard about how people normally sneeze when other people were talking about them, he immediately thought that it was the girls from his class who were talking about how he was such a great guy. This thought made an evil smirk break out on his face, and he immediately let out a loud laugh, which reverberated on the walls of his house and escaped to the outside through his open windows. This made the blue haired guy who was currently approaching his house and was texting a girl on his phone sweat drop a little, wondering what on earth had happened to his companion.

The story about the Karakura Rizers had certainly made the journey shorter, since Ichigo heard Ishida say to him, "Kurosaki, we're here." Immediately, he shifted his gaze away from Tatsuki, with whom he was currently engaged in conversation about the exploits of her and her friends while Ichigo, Ishida and Sado were away. He recognized the familiar sign of the candy shop, and the wooden structure that lay beneath it made him realize that they had reached their destination. Tatsuki made to move forward and enter the shop, but her arm was suddenly grabbed from behind. Puzzled, she looked at Ichigo, and asked him," Why are you stopping me? Shouldn't we be heading in there and getting help from Urahara-san?" Ichigo looked at her then said, "Of course, Tatsuki. But first there's something I want to do." He turned to Ishida, who was standing next to him, and told him, "Ishida, I don't have my cell phone on me. Call Sado and tell him to come to Urahara's place. Don't bother explaining what happened to him, it will take too much time. We'll explain it to him when he gets here." "Don't give me orders Kurosaki; I was just about to call him. We need his help too, I'm fully aware of that." He drew his phone from his pocket, and Ichigo smirked at him, saying under his breath," Bastard." Tatsuki realized what Ichigo meant to do, and smiled a little, realizing that he was putting every ounce of his effort into rescuing Inoue. "Thanks, Ichigo," She told him. "Don't mention it," he replied, and after the phone call, the trio entered the shop of the former 12th Squad Captain, Urahara Kisuke.

Said man was currently in the living room of his abode with Tsukabishi Tessai, and they were currently engaged in a heated game of poker. Jinta was on Urahara's side, having had a bad record of being on the receiving end of Tessai's wrath many times in the store due to mishandling of equipment. Ururu was on Tessai's side, and by the sad look on her face, Urahara was winning by a long streak. Jinta had his hands clasped in a pose of excitement, and suddenly the stack of cards that was on the table was blown away when a bag containing red-bean paste was dropped on the table. There was a gasp of anger, and a soft sound of, "My, my," coming from both Jinta and Ururu respectively. Urahara simply smiled under his hat, and Tessai retained the same impassive expression on his face. The gazes of the four who were on the table shifted to their new visitor, and they were mildly surprised to see it was Tatsuki, who had her hand held out over the table. She was not smiling.

Ichigo appeared moments later with Ishida beside him, and said, "Urahara-san, we need to talk."

"Really now, Kurosaki-san, is that any way to start a conversation?" the pale-haired man spoke up. He shifted his position in the cushion he was currently seated on to face the group of three, while beside him the two kids in the store picked up the stack of cards that had been strewn all over the floor.

"Inoue has been kidnapped, and we need your help in knowing where she was taken. There are residual traces of an odd reiatsu on her shopping bag, so we were hoping that it would provide a clue as to who the assailants are," Tatsuki blurted out as soon as Urahara had faced them. He wasn't really surprised at this, since he had a feeling that she would have this reaction when she found out that her best friend had been kidnapped. "I did feel a strange reiatsu this afternoon, but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, so I didn't have a chance to send out Yoruichi-san to investigate. However, from the slight trace of reaitsu I could sense, I could confirm one thing. The entity that snatched away Inoue-san was from The Siphoned World, " Urahara told the group.

_End_

**A/N: **Well, there's chapter 4 written and completed. I hope it isn't too boring since I wanted to focus more on the interactions between Ichigo, Tatsuki and Ishida as they went to Urahara's place, since it would even be more unrealistic for them to say nothing to each other. Being friends and all, after all ;) And I did reveal where Inoue was taken by our antagonists, so I hope I managed to root your interest in the next chapter, which will be hopefully out soon. Either way, make sure to read and review. Thanks for all the support guys;) IchiHime is love, IchiHime is Life.


	5. Inoue's Whereabouts

**A/N: ** Hello guys and sorry for the long wait before I updated this story. It seems a bit longer than normal but a lot of stuff has happened to me so I hope you guys will forgive me for the late update. Either way here is Chapter 5 of my story, titled "Inoue's Whereabouts." Read and don't forget to enjoy and leave a review.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach. It belongs to Tite Kubo plus all its wonderful characters.

_Inoue's Whereabouts_

Inoue Orihime woke up with a sudden jolt. All of a sudden, all the events that happened to her before her kidnap seemed like all part of a bad dream, and she held her head in her hands a little to make sure she was dreaming. She was sure that once she opened her eyes properly, she would find herself in the comfort of her warm blankets and she would prepare herself for another normal day in the World of The Living. The truth is, she had been so used to nightmares regarding her and her brother ever since she lost him all those years ago at the Kurosaki Clinic. Each and every night after that, she had dreamt about her brother being whisked away from her by the clutches of death. She would find herself waking up with tears in her eyes and then be faced with the harsh reality that her brother had been taken away from her when she was young. She would cry herself to sleep and thought that she would continue having the same dream until she became a fully grown woman. However, all that changed one day when she met a certain boy in her high school, Kurosaki Ichigo.

The first time she met Ichigo, she was surprised at the impression that he gave out. True enough, his orange hair was already something that you didn't see every day, so it was an interesting fact about him. However, she had seen plenty of boys that had dyed their hair a different color, so it wasn't really something anew that she noticed. It was the way he carried himself that really got to her. Most boys who usually dyed their hair had the notion that they should act "cool" in order to attract girls or even impress their male friends, but Ichigo just didn't seem…. to care about that at all. In fact, he always seemed to project his true self through his actions, an action which Inoue had come to admire so greatly about him. He was stubborn, strong-willed, short-tempered and impulsive. He also seemed not to care what other people thought about him, since people always seemed to talk about his odd hair color while they were at school. In addition to that, Ichigo was a capable student, ranked 23rd in his year at school, meaning he always studied regularly and never neglected his schoolwork. Even if Inoue was smarter than him, herself ranking 3rd, she never looked down on him or belittled him. In fact, she wished to help him with his studies but she had the feeling that he would refuse the assistance, owing to his tendency to take everything upon himself, studies included. She also noticed that he was genuinely compassionate and empathetic towards others, since she heard from Tatsuki-chan about how Ichigo helped Sado Yasutora when he used to be attacked by delinquents from other schools. Yes, Kurosaki Ichigo was indeed an oddball, but she wasn't really one to talk since Tatsuki told her once that she had never met anyone quite like her. Perhaps this was part of the reason why she liked him so much at first.

Then, she managed to get the strength to befriend him. At first, she was scared to approach him owing to the permanent scowl that adorned his face, but as time passed she came to see it as something funny. Tatsuki had warned her about befriending Ichigo at first, since she was worried that Inoue would get dragged into Ichigo's world, which involved showdowns with bullies daily and having lunch on the rooftop with his group of friends. However, this did not deter her, since she was aware that Ichigo and Tatsuki were childhood friends, and she was a bit curious about what kind of a boy he was. The first time she met him, all those years ago at the Kurosaki Clinic; she didn't really pay him much attention since she was worried to death for her brother's life. He passed away at the hands of Kurosaki Isshin, Ichigo's dad, and she was devastated so much that she couldn't move her body to go home that evening. Isshin allowed her to stay there for the night and she shared a room with Ichigo's sisters, Karin and Yuzu.

After she managed to befriend Ichigo, she noticed that her nightmares concerning her brother's death began to diminish, and in the midst of those nightmares, she always felt someone's voice calling out to her and telling her that everything would be okay. She never knew who the voice would belong to, but when she woke up the next morning, she found herself being tapped on the shoulder by Ichigo telling her to wake up and get breakfast. He always seemed to get up earlier than everyone in the house, so he always took the liberty to wake up his sisters, as Yuzu was always the one who prepared breakfast for the rest of the family. Ichigo himself had once tried preparing breakfast for the family, but it resulted into a disastrous meal, which prompted Yuzu to tell him to stay away from the kitchen and never handle the food there again. From that point, Ichigo made sure to always wake Yuzu up, but that morning when he entered their room, he saw that the guest they had there was shaking a little in her sleep. He realized that she must have been traumatized over what had just happened to her brother, having witnessed several patients breaking down over the loss of a loved one within the walls of the Kurosaki Clinic. His compassion for the young girl getting the better of him, he decided to shake her awake while telling her that everything would be okay, and since that day Inoue's bad dreams began diminishing. She was grateful to the orange-haired boy, and even when her brother resumed the World of The Living to attack her as a hollow, he appeared again to save her. Her nightmares also changed that time, each time she witnessed her brother attack her as that snake-like hollow, but he always appeared between her and her brother and struck a death blow to him, saving her and also sending her brother to Soul Society where he was finally able to get peace. She was forever grateful to Ichigo since that day, her affection for him growing day by day.

Back to the present, Inoue slowly uncovered her face to find herself in an odd place. The area was dark, and there seemed to be odd white lights in the atmosphere. Inoue looked around a little before realizing that the whole area was new to her, and then all of a sudden it dawned on her that it wasn't a nightmare she had just experienced. She had really been whisked away by an unknown enemy, and the last thing she was doing before then was exiting the stall after buying red-bean paste. Then a strange man appeared before her, and before confirming that she was who she was, he whisked her away in the blink of an eye. Everything after that seemed to be blurry, meaning that she had been knocked out en route to their destination, possibly to prevent her from squirming around too much or even attempting to repel the enemy using her Shun Shun Rikka. A closer look at her surroundings made her remember the time she had spent in Hueco Mundo after her kidnap by Ulquiorra Schiffer. However, this place seemed a bit more eerie than Hueco Mundo, for some reason she couldn't place her finger on. It looked like she had been thrust into space, owing to the stars she saw in the sky, but she had the feeling that she had been here before. The reaitsu of the place was familiar to her, and she made to wake up from the seat she was currently in. It was a huge chair, and she remembered seeing Aizen Sousuke seated in something familiar when she was in his presence in Hueco Mundo. It seemed to her that her kidnapper(s) had intended for her to be as comfortable as possible, a trait that they shared with the Espada of Hueco Mundo. There seemed to be restraints on her seat, but they came off as soon as she made to get up. It also seemed to her that the enemy was going to allow her freedom to move as she wanted within this new area, possibly with the knowledge that she wouldn't be able to escape even if she wanted to. She looked around her for any signs of a door which would provide an exit, but the darkness littered with stars seemed to go as far as her eyes would see. Then she came upon something that lay in front of her.

It was a sort of glass structure, and when she moved closer to investigate it, she saw that it was a coffin. A glass coffin, much like the one which was used in church services when people were paying their final respects to the dead and were allowed to view the body one last time before it was put into the grave to rest for all eternity. There was a similar one at her brother's funeral, so she recognized it right away. Much to her surprise, there was a body inside the glass coffin, something she did not expect to find in such a place. She was now staring at the body inside the coffin, and had a clearer look of the person lying inside.

It was a man. He was quite young, owing to his facial features, and he looked as if he had just died recently, since there were no foul odors emanating from his body, or even any smell of chemicals, which indicated that his body was being preserved through embalming. He had white hair, and he looked to be the same height as Inoue or a few inches shorter. He had white robes on, and Inoue knew that this was probably due to the fact that whoever was responsible for his body was probably preparing for his imminent burial. His hands were clasped on his abdomen together as if he was praying, and Inoue noticed that he looked so peaceful, owing to the smile that lay on his unmoving body. Due to curiosity more than anything else, she made to move her hand to touch the surface of the glass coffin, when she heard a voice speak up to her, a voice which most definitely did not come from the body that was lying inside the glass coffin.

"I see you've awakened, Inoue Orihime. And you've had the pleasure of meeting our dead leader then, have you?"

_Urahara Shop_

"Siphoned World? What's that?" asked a perplexed Kurosaki Ichigo. In all his years of being a Substitute Shinigami, he had heard about the three realms of existence: The Real World or The World of The Living, where humans resided, Hueco Mundo, which was inhabited by Hollows, and Soul Society, where all the souls resided plus the Shinigami of the Gotei 13. But not once, had he heard of the term, "Siphoned World." He looked at Ishida, who was seated next to him, and after seeing the same perplexed look on the blue-haired man's face, he realized that Ishida too, did not know what Urahara-san had just said. It was a first he had heard about it too. Tatsuki looked too confused that Ichigo realized the poor girl was still trying to wrap her head around all this supernatural stuff. She had heard everything from Ichigo, of course, but still such things were better explained through seeing rather than orally.

"Ah, yes, you guys haven't been told about it yet, have you?" Urahara-san continued. He really couldn't blame them, as it was something that had been discovered recently by Kurotsuchi Mayuri and his 12th division, and the news had just been made fresh to all the captains. He continued, "Recently, after the defeat of Aizen Sousuke at your hands, Kurosaki-san, there seemed to be a disturbance within the Gargantia. At first, Mayuri-san thought that it was caused by the remaining hollows in Hueco Mundo, but then we noticed that the disturbance seemed to be a bit nearer than that. So Kurotsuchi sent his assistant, Nemu, to the Garganta to see what the cause of the disturbance was, and once she was inside, she felt something that originated from within the Garganta. It seemed to come from beneath her feet, so when she delivered the report to Kurotsuchi, he surmised that it was just as he had expected it when he had opened the Garganta for you and Unohana-san to get back to the World of The Living during the war. He had said something about investigating the world that lay between the Garganta, and even though it was meant to be a joke more than anything, he still kept the thought fresh in his mind. The report from Nemu-san confirmed it. There was a massive accumulation of Reishi that seemed to occur from within that abyss, meaning there were people there, or more likely a spiritual being. Therefore, we decided to name it "The Siphoned World," since it was a world that lay between two worlds, much like the Dangai. Mayuri-san delivered this report to the Head Commander, and the whole of Gotei 13 was informed about this. The Captain Commander told us to all be on our toes since we didn't want anything like what happened with Aizen to occur again, and we all agreed to be on guard all the time. However, this current incident with Inoue seems to have been too sudden for anyone to notice anything. At first, it looks like an ordinary kidnapping, but no matter how good of a warrior you are, it's almost impossible to erase your traces perfectly. The kidnapper left behind a trail of reiatsu, and it's the same reiatsu that Nemu-san felt when she dived into that world. Meaning, Inoue Orihime was taken into the Siphoned World." Urahara concluded. He phrased it in the best terms possible since he knew that Ichigo wasn't really the brightest egg out there, and he liked knowing all the details of something fully. He watched Ichigo's face to look for any signs that he had understood what he had just explained, and after noticing the perplexed look on his face disappear, he knew that he had understood all that Urahara had said, or at least most of it.

"So meaning Inoue-san has been taken into the Garganta, right? Meaning it's the same thing as last time, all we need to do is open the Garganta and go rescue her, right?" It was Ishida who spoke up this time. The perplexed look on his face had also disappeared, and Urahara was glad that he also understood it. He was a bit happy that Ishida was a genius at understanding things like this. He looked at Tatsuki and even if she was trying to rack her head around it, he was sure that she would believe it once they went into the said world. "Yes. However, this time, you don't have to make a full road until you reach Hueco Mundo, you just have to make a path until you reach somewhere like the centre, or somewhere within the middle, and then you dive from there downwards into the abyss. Of course, you have to use reishi to control your descent, or else you might crash into your death," Urahara explained. At that moment, the door was knocked, and the four people within the room understood what the knock meant. Sado Yasutora had arrived.

"I'll go get it," Tatsuki replied, and once she went to open the door, Ichigo quickly spoke to Urahara. It was more of a command, rather than a request, and Urahara understood part of the reason why Ichigo was so edgy. "Urahara-san, could you please open the Garganta right away. If Inoue really has been taken into such a strange place, there's a chance that she might be in frenzy right now, since I don't think this time is the same as when she was kidnapped by Ulquiorra. That time, she had been warned to come with him or else we would be killed, but this time she was just taken away without any prior warning. There's a chance that she may have started fighting back against the enemy, and the enemy may decide to…." Ichigo couldn't complete the sentence. It was too much for him to say, and he felt that if he said it, it would really come to pass. Karma had a weird way of working like that. If Inoue was really dead by now, he was sure that he would run amok in the destination they were headed to, without regard for his life or even the enemy's life. Inoue was kind of like the sunshine in his life, owing to her bright nature and the way she was always cheerful around him and tried to cheer him up, and to tell the truth she sometimes helped make his days cheerful when he felt run down in the mill. Losing her was equivalent to losing that sunshine, and he was not sure how he would be able to cope with it. Shaking his head to clear such thoughts, since he did not know when he had started holding Inoue in such a high pedestal compared to the rest of his friends. Sure he valued all his companions and would run to the ends of the earth for them, he felt that with Inoue there was something more. Something special. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but he figured that he would have the answer once he had Inoue back.

"Sure thing, Kurosaki-san. Let me go and make preparations," Urahara said as he got up from his seated position on the ground. "Thank you," Ichigo silently murmured to him as he passed by, and Urahara replied, "Of course, anything for Kurosaki-san's girlfriend." Ichigo got a bit flustered, and before he could turn and ask Urahara what he meant, he had already descended into the basement. Sado then entered the room him and Ishida were currently in, and owing to the sweat drops that were on his face, Ichigo realized that he must have run at a neck-breaking speed to get there. He smiled a little, knowing that Sado also viewed Inoue as an irreplaceable friend to him, and he couldn't bear the thought of losing her. "Ichigo, I came as soon as Ishida called me, but he didn't give me all the details over the phone, saying that he would explain more as soon as I got here. What happened?" the dark-skinned man asked between heavy breaths. He placed himself on the ground and attempted to catch his breath, and Ichigo looked at Ishida, who shook his head and said, "I get it already. I know someone of an inferior brain like yours won't be able to explain properly, so I'll handle it." Ichigo smirked at him a little, before saying, "Thanks, Ishida." Ishida shrugged, and said," Don't thank me, Kurosaki, it's creepy." The blue-haired man then got up from his position on the ground, and moved to where Sado was currently seated, to be in a better position to explain to him. Tatsuki sat near the broad shouldered man, and patted his back to make him calm down. After hearing about where Inoue had just been taken, she had a feeling that they would probably need all their best hands to rescue her, so she knew that Sado was an invaluable asset at that point of time. The sooner she helped him recover his breath, the sooner they would depart for The Siphoned World, and the sooner she could see her best friend.

Ichigo left Ishida explaining to Sado all that had transpired, and descended to the basement to see if Urahara had completed the preparations. True enough, once he had reached the final step, he saw the familiar rift in the atmosphere, and the void that lay between it, although this time it felt a bit thicker than usual. It felt as if there was a dense reiatsu in the midst of that void, and this strengthened Urahara's explanation earlier. Urahara nodded to him from a high point just near the Garganta's entrance, the same high point that he had seen them off from the first time they had gone to Hueco Mundo. He beckoned for Ichigo to go and get the rest of his group so that they could depart for Hueco Mundo, and as Ichigo made to go back upstairs, he heard a voice call out to him. Actually, it sounded like the voices of two people who had spoken as one, and it came from the within the void.

"Not so fast, Kurosaki Ichigo. We're coming with you," the voices said. Ichigo was shocked, not by the voices, but by whom they belonged to. He had heard those voices somewhere before, and one of them belonged to an ally he had, the other to an arch-nemesis he had a while in the past. From the Garganta, the two people emerged, and after seeing their faces, he was shocked beyond belief. The two voices were from….

_End_

**A/N: **Well, that chapter was indeed longer than the previous one, a fact which I'm happy for, since when I began it at first I didn't think it would be this long. However, I'm happy it's as long as this and I finally revealed where our princess currently is. And as for whom the two voices belonged to, I'll let you guys take a guess and whoever guesses right gets a spoiler XD I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, make sure to read and leave a review at the end.


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